Estrogen’s Effect on Heart Failure in Men

According to the American Heart Association, an estimated 5.7 million Americans are living with heart failure and 670,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Heart failure is a condition in which the heart is unable to pump a sufficient amount of blood to meet the body’s needs for blood and oxygen. Traditional treatment plans for heart failure include lifestyle changes, medication and in some cases, surgery. However, a recent study conducted in Poland has found that having just the right amount of estrogen, a female hormone produced by the ovaries, may be beneficial to men with heart failure. The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, followed 501 men with an average age of 58 for three years. All of the men had heart failure and a left ventricular ejection fraction of 28 percent, which is a measurement of the capacity at which the heart is pumping. According to the Mayo Clinic, a normal LV ejection fraction is 55 to 70 percent and this number may decrease as a result of heart damage from heart failure or other problems. Over the three-year period, 171 of the men involved in the study died, with those participants with the highest and lowest levels of estrogen having a higher chance of death.

Of the group with the lowest estrogen levels, 44.6 percent were still living after the three years, while 65.8 percent of the group with the second-lowest levels were still surviving. Men with average levels of estrogen had a survival rate of 82.4 percent. The group of men with elevated levels had a 79 percent rate of survival, while those with the highest levels of estrogen had a 63.6 percent survival rate at the end of the study. These findings suggested a four times greater risk of dying for men with heart failure with the lowest levels of estrogen compared to those with average levels. The findings also suggest that the risk of death is more than twice as high for men with the highest levels of estrogen than those with average levels. Several heart specialists believe that more research needs to be conducted before any estrogen treatments are used for men with heart failure, with the effect of this hormone being seen in both high and low levels. If you or a loved one has experienced a serious injury or death as a result of a delay in diagnosis or treatment of a heart problem, call or e-mail the attorneys at Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C. We serve clients with Brooklyn medical malpractice, Bronx medical malpractice, Manhattan medical malpratice, Queens medical malpracitce, Nassau medical malpractice and Suffolk medical malpractice cases. We also serve clients located in Staten Island and Westchester County.

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